L O O K I N G T O G E T L O S T: September 2009

A week and a half in Santiago and it was time to head north to Antofagasta which is a port city in the second region of Chile (Chile is divided into 15 regions(btw, region is one of those words that you can look at forever and it never looks like it's spelled right)). Camila was there to pick me up at the airport and after a short day in Antofagasta we boarded the bus to San Pedro the following morning.
For as long as I can remember I've always been fascinated by deserts, despite the fact they are the least interesting climate on earth(in terms of vegetation and wildlife). But for somebody who had not seen one until he was 20 and had a fascination since he was 5, I was thrilled to be on a three hour bus ride through the driest desert in the world. Having grown up in the area and seen too much of a barren landscape, Camila apologized profusely for the boring ride and ugliness of the scenery, but I loved it.

Typical Atacama landscape, mildly accentuated by a polarizing filter

Three hours later we ended up in Calama where we were staying with her uncle for a couple nights. Calama is a small city 40 minutes from San Pedro that reminded me of a smaller, dirtier, Latin version of Reno, without the casinos(well, there was one casino).

One of the only photos I have from Calama. Close to the uncle's casa.

The next day we headed out early for San Pedro, and as usual it was sunny and penetratingly hot. And of course I was thrilled by the dry, bleak landscape.

Getting close

Camila, on the road

Not surprisingly, I fell in love with San Pedro before even being within 15 miles of it. The first sighting of it off in the distance and I knew I wasn't going to be let down. It was a tiny town made up of dirt roads, old one story buildings, many with straw rooves and overall just had a great, laidback vibe.

Typical street

Abandoned car

Street corner

San Pedro de Atacama Church

Myself (again looking confused) in front of the church

There was a meter in the center of town telling you the intensity of the sun. At midday it was more intense than anything I could have ever imagined, and it was only 2 of 5 on the meter. At highest intensity white skinned people should spend a maximum of 22 minutes outside.

After leaving town we headed towards the salt lakes, south of San Pedro. The directions were specific, but not. After passing the last building in town go 7.3km(my estimation from memory), turn right down the sand road and keep going until the road disappears and you see the lone tree. Then go left and keep going until you see the tiny shack. We initially passed the sand road but turned around and took a guess and ended up being correct. After that, the lone tree was pretty obvious, as was the tiny shack.

Local dwellings at the edge of town

The road to the lakes

One of the salt lakes and Licancabur Volcano on the border of Bolivia in the distance

Me, about 60 yards out in the lake

The lakes were beautiful, to say the least. It was an incredible feeling to be completely alone in the middle of the driest desert in the world, standing in a random salt lake (which was no deeper than six inches for at least 100 yards). The darker blue area you see in the above photo is where it gets deeper. You have to cross what looks like coral, but crumbles under your feet, to reach the deep end. It was just like the Dead Sea, you float on the top with absolutely no effort. I had both arms and legs straight out of the water with only six inches of water on my chest. It was a surreal experience, multiplied by the fact that it was the coldest water I've ever swam in, despite the blistering sun.

After a nice swim, Camila and I decided to head towards the canyon. But not before taking an excessive amount of photos of course. Which you will only see one of here:

A salt crusted plant

Upon getting out of the water we began to dry immediately from the sun. The amount of salt in the lake left a white, crusty layer on both our skin and swimwear. The salt felt like it was sucking every bit of moisture from my body and I craved any form of sanctuary. Of course that wasn't part of the plan. We fortunately made it back to the highway but didn't get more than a mile before hearing a weak explosion sound.

It was our back tiring bursting.

We spent the next hour breaking into a faulty trunk and replacing the busted tire with a donut. Just as we were sitting back into the car the chick-chick sound of the warning lights began to fade to a chick-chiiiiiiiiiiiccckk sound. I warned Camila that it was the sound a car would make when the battery was dying. We were one second too late. The battery literally just died on us.
So for the next hour and a half we enjoyed this view before one of the few cars on the road actually had jumper cables.

Where the car broke down

During our few moments of salt covered desperation we talked about how nice it would be to get a lemonade from Tierra, a restaurant we had lunch at earlier that had great food and unforgettable lemonade. So once we were mobile again we headed straight there and got a couple lemonades, which may have been the best limonada I've ever had. We randomly went to the restaurant out of convenience and it was a great choice. The food was cheap (about $7 for the meal below) and nicely presented and very tasty. They also had fresh, handmade empenadas which were unbelieavable (especialmente el champiñónes y queso).

Amazing lemonades

Red wine balsamic chicken and glass noodles from Tierra

same

We headed straight to Valle De la Luna to catch the sunset and unfortunately just missed it, but it was still a beautiful sight to see.

Some turistas invading the area

I was obviously a tourist as well, but I do my best to disassociate myself from everything tourist. I like to think that I am for some reason above them because I am with a local. And maybe it makes me one step above the rest because of insider information, but I'm still just a tourist with a local. Either way it doesn't change my one-sided interpretation of things.

Valley of Death and Licancabur

We didn't make it to the canyon that day, but we went the next day and it was just as unforgettable as the first day in San Pedro. It was a tiny oasis 15 miles north of town, formed by runoff from hot springs miles away.

The walk down from the road

The oasis (notice the people swimming in the middle of the frame)

Our swimming hole

View from our grotto

San Pedro and the surrounding area was a beautiful place that I hope to spend more time at in the future. Two days there was not nearly enough and all it showed me is that it was beautiful and I need to come back asap.

After about five days in Santiago some friends suggested a day trip to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. I'd been told by many other travelers and friends that they were both cities that warrented a visit; especially being only an hour and a half from Santiago. Valparaíso is an eclectic port city spreading into the hills that overlook the ocean. There are many colorful, rundown buildings, many covered in graffiti on winding cobblestone streets. It is an interesting place because locals look at graffiti as a form of art and officials don't stop graffiti artists from doing there thing. Ideally I would have liked to have spent at least a few weeks exploring the area, but that wasn't an option for right now.

Valparaíso - the bay

Typical rundown streets - Cerro Concepción

Impressive street art

Cerro Concepción neighborhood

Coffe, Camila, Felipe

More street art

There were many random dogs throughout the city

Felipe, random dog, Brit

Myself looking somewhat awkward in the alley to a small restaurant famous for its chorrillana, which is a plate of french fries covered in scrambled eggs, onions and steak. Amazingly tasty and equally greasy.